CHAPTER XIV

THE PIÑATA

Early the next morning the three girls began making preparations for the party for the little Mexican children.

“I’ll make some fudge,” suggested Peggy.

“That’ll be something new to them,” Florence told her. “I can make some molasses candy out of this brown sugar. Maybe they’ll know what that is.”

“I think we ought to have some kind of cakes, too,” put in Jo Ann. “I can make pretty good doughnuts. Do you think the children would like them, Florence?”

“I’m sure they would. They won’t know what they are, but they’ll like them. I doubt if these children even know what candy is. Living out in the mountains as they have, they’ve probably never tasted many sweets. I know this party will be a real treat to them and their mothers, too.”

When they had finished their cooking, Florence remarked, “Now we must decorate the _olla_ for the _piñata_.”

Peggy smiled. “I know what an _olla_ is—it’s just a big earthen water jar, but what is a _pin_—_pin_—or whatever you called it?”

“That’s what I’m wondering, too,” added Jo Ann.

“Well, when we fill this _olla_”—she pointed to the big pottery jar on the table—“with the candy and doughnuts and decorate the outside with gay colors, then it’ll be called a _piñata_.”

“What do you do with it then?” queried Jo Ann.

“Hang it up by a rope and blindfold the children and let them see which one can break it; then they all scramble for the contents.”

The girls laughed, and Peggy added, “Sounds like a lot of fun. What’re we going to decorate the _olla_ with?”

“The only thing I can think of is to cut some colored pictures out of magazines and paste them on it. Can you think of anything better?”

Both girls shook their heads.

Soon the three had selected the brightest advertisements from some magazines and had decorated the jar till it looked quite festive.

That afternoon, before they had finished their siestas, the guests began to arrive. First were the children from the goat ranch with their mother; then shortly afterwards María and the grandmother with their line of little stairsteps.

Jo Ann noticed at once that Carlitos was missing and asked Florence to inquire about him.

A moment later Florence explained to Jo Ann that Carlitos had gone up on the mountain with José to get the charcoal. “María says they’ll be down later—they’ll stop on their way down with the charcoal.”

“Let’s wait to have the _piñata_ game till Carlitos gets here,” Jo Ann suggested to Florence. “I don’t want him to miss that. Let’s show them how to play some simple game like drop the handkerchief while we’re waiting.”

Florence smiled dubiously. “We can try it, but I’m sure they’ve never played it before.”

In spite of their strenuous efforts to start the game, they failed, as the children merely stared timidly with their big black eyes, not seeming to know how to enter into the fun.

“These are the quietest children I’ve ever seen in all my life,” Jo Ann declared. “Don’t they ever play, Florence?”

“Very seldom. They work most of the time. The older ones take care of the babies and help their mothers. I believe we’d better go ahead with the _piñata_. It’ll take them a long time to break the _olla_, and maybe Carlitos’ll be here before anyone succeeds.”

Florence blindfolded the largest one of the little girls and handed her a stick, then turned her around several times. “Now see if you can break the _piñata_.”

The girl took a few steps, then timidly struck out with her stick, only to miss the _piñata_ by several feet.

“Don’t be afraid,” called Pepito. “Go closer.”

Florence smiled. “No, she gets only one turn this time. You come on, Pepito, and try.”

With his black eyes shining Pepito stepped forward to be blindfolded. Jo Ann was delighted to see how much stronger he seemed to be and was as pleased as he when he hit the _piñata_, even though he did not succeed in breaking it.

Jo Ann and Peggy clapped their hands in applause, and the little Mexican children, thinking that was part of the game, timidly followed their example.

Before all of the children had had a turn in trying to hit the _piñata_, Carlitos came running up to the porch, his hands and face streaked with the black charcoal dust.

Pepito pointed up to the _piñata_. “Look, Carlitos, a _piñata_! And I hit it!” He went on rapidly to explain about the game.

With the keenest interest the three girls watched Carlitos’ face brighten and his blue eyes sparkle bluer than ever against the black of his face.

“I’ll break it for you, Pepito,” he replied confidently.

Peggy turned to Jo Ann and Florence, smiling. “Say, Jo, your little blue-eyed Mexican seems to have turned into a little nigger. Don’t you think you’d better introduce him to some soap and water before the refreshments?”

“Not a bad idea,” Florence replied. “Jo, take him back and show him how to use the soap.”

Jo Ann’s eyes stretched to their widest. “Show him how to use soap! What do you mean?”

“He’s probably never seen toilet soap before.”

“Gracious! To think of an American boy living like that—not even having seen toilet soap!”

After she had demonstrated to Carlitos how to wash his hands with soap, she watched almost unbelievingly his evident delight in the white foamy suds and its magic effect.

“I’ve got to get that boy back to civilization. Something must be done right away,” she told herself.

As soon as he had finished, they hurried back to the porch, and Florence placed the blindfold on Carlitos. As he started toward the _piñata_ Pepito called eagerly, “Hit it hard, Carlitos—very hard!”

With almost uncanny accuracy, Carlitos neared the _piñata_, then struck out vigorously.

There was a crashing sound as the pottery vessel cracked open and the contents scattered over the floor.

Carlitos jerked the blindfold off, while the children uttered little squeals of mingled excitement and delight.

Smiling, Florence pointed to the scattered sweets. “Go get them!” she exclaimed.

The children needed no more urging. Straightway they began scurrying about, their black eyes shining with delight as they picked up the candy and cakes and tasted them. With their usual unselfishness they took some of them over to their mothers and the grandmother.

Just then Jo Ann noticed José leaning against a near-by tree, a pleased expression on his face as he watched the children’s fun. “Come on and get some _dulces_,” she called to him.

Smiling, he came over to the porch and took the sweets Jo Ann offered.

While both the older people and the children were enjoying the treat, Jo Ann went out to examine the huge bags of charcoal that almost completely covered the small burro. She laughed aloud as she noticed that only his ears and his feet were visible.

“It’s a good thing that charcoal’s light, or that burro’d never be able to get to town with that load,” she thought.

When she went back to the porch she told José, chiefly by gestures, that she was glad he had made so much charcoal. “When are you going to take it to the village to sell?” she asked him.

“_Mañana_ in the _mañana_,” he replied.

“That means early in the morning, doesn’t it?” she asked Florence.

Florence nodded.

Jo Ann put her hand on Carlitos’ shoulder. “Are the boys going with you, José?”

José shook his head. “No, I think it better that they do not go.”

Shortly after the children had finished eating their refreshments, each one politely thanked the girls and offered a grimy, sticky little hand in a farewell shake.

As María was leaving with her family she remarked to Florence again, “You have much kindness, señoritas—like Carlitos’ _mamá_. I have much joy that he has friends _Americanos_ now.”

After they had all left Jo Ann said determinedly, “We’ve simply got to find Carlitos’ relatives right away. María and José are as kind to him as they can be—they treat him as if he were their own child—but they’re so pitifully poor and ignorant.”

Florence shook her head dubiously. “I wish we could find some of his relatives, but it looks as if we’re up against a stone wall now. We’ve done everything we could.”

“Oh, Jo’ll solve the mystery—she’ll climb right over the stone wall,” laughed Peggy. “She’s great on climbing.”

The next day, when the girls were busily preparing dinner on the outdoor fireplace, Jo Ann happened to glance down the road. “Good gracious!” she exclaimed. “Is that Pepito, running like that? It is! Why, he oughtn’t to run like that.”

She rushed out to meet him. “No, no, Pepito! You mustn’t run like that,” she called to him.

Gasping for breath, Pepito ejaculated, “Carlitos! Oh, Carlitos!”